


Presents and Investigations

by LaBelleetlaloup



Series: Werewolf Courtship [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Always Female Stiles Stilinski, Courtship, F/M, POV Stiles, Reference to Derek Hale/Kate Argent, Werewolf Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:06:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4809065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaBelleetlaloup/pseuds/LaBelleetlaloup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sheriff is not entirely oblivious. Derek continues to send gifts, offerings of affection to prove his ability to provide. The Sheriff notices that Stiles has a lot more new stuff lying around than he's given her money to buy and she hasn't gotten a job....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Packages

When the second unexpected package arrived on the doorstep, Stiles immediately texted Derek, assuming he was the one who had sent it.

_For me?_

_For you. Do you like it?_

Stiles huffed to herself. “Let me get settled. Do I like it? I haven’t even opened it yet. Honestly.” She dropped her bookbag to the ground, though, and quickly opened the box. There was a gift box with a note inside the packaging. Stiles bypassed the note in favor of opening the present.

Oh. My. God.

She hit dial on the phone with her mouth still hanging open.

“Well?” Derek asked from the other end of the phone.

“You got me the entire Marston run of Wonder Woman. From the 40s. How is that even possible?”

“Most difficult to acquire things are only expensive,” Derek replied dismissively. “Do you like it?”

“Yes! Of course I like it. It’s amazing.”

“Good.” Stiles could hear Derek’s smile in his voice. “I thought you would.”

 

The third package was the newest game in Stiles’ second favorite video game series, a full week before it hit stores. Stiles screamed and jumped around and nearly tackled Derek the next night at the pack meeting in a big bear hug. Scott, at least, seemed to understand the prolonged ecstasy once she managed to explain the situation to him, looking deeply distressed and loudly complaining that no one had ever loved him enough to buy him his video games before they hit stores.

 

The fourth and fifth packages were both clothing and happened to arrive on the same day. The fifth package had apparently gotten delayed in the mail and had been supposed to arrive several days earlier than the one that arrived in the morning. The delayed package had four pairs of denim shorts in two different styles from her favorite jeans brand. As usual, they fit perfectly on her hips and were even the exact length she liked in shorts-just, almost, not quite mid-thigh. They also had real pockets that her phone fit in. There may have been tears and a Hallelujah chorus echoing in the distance. The other package was a sundress. It was bright turquoise with bleach white polka dots, a flowy skirt that twirled and a fitted bodice. Luckily for Derek, the dress also fit. Unfortunately for her father, Stiles’ new sundress looked almost exactly like the one her mother was wearing in the pictures of their honeymoon, except her mother’s had been red. Stiles made the executive decision not to wear the dress in front of her father.

 

The sixth package was also clothing, but it was hand-delivered. Stiles had ripped her shirt while running from a coven of witches the night before, so Derek had gone to the store and replaced it. He also had gotten one of every other color as well. They were comfortable shirts and Stiles did not argue with free clothing. They might have been just plain old t-shirts in various colors but they were ten bucks a pop on sale when she had gotten the one that ripped. Stiles had no desire to spend all her money replacing fifteen dollar shirts. Derek had the money to spend.

 

The seventh package was also hand-delivered, later the same day as the sixth. Derek had picked up a Grimoire from somewhere and a bestiary a little more informational and a little less murder-inclined from somewhere and apparently they were now Stiles’. She was gratified to discover an easy spell that required only spit as a bodily fluid to claim a territory for a group that would get rid of witch covens running amok. Stiles could work with spit. She didn’t do well with needles or knives to draw blood and the thought of anything else made her cringe about health hazards. She and Derek and Peter did the spell in the loft. The witches left within hours. After all they had read about what witches could do, depending on the strength of the coven, no one was complaining about the anticlimactic ending to the problem.


	2. Lydia's Birthday

As Derek had put Laura’s Camaro in Cora’s name on Cora’s birthday in February and bought a silver, convertible Camaro for Erica on her birthday, and bought Allison a green Ford Fiesta that her father hadn’t put trackers in for her birthday, everyone was wondering whether Lydia would get a new car too. Danny’s car hadn’t been updated on his birthday. Derek had gotten Danny a subscription to Playgirl. Jackson had been less than amused but Danny had appreciated it. So it was possible Derek would get Lydia a car. But it was also possible she might get something else. Lydia had a car and it didn’t have a tracking bug on the GPS after all.

Lydia threw one of her huge bashes again and nearly the entire school showed up. Stiles had gotten all dolled up in the dress Derek had bought her and then there were tons of teenagers and Derek didn’t get out of his car. He just sent Isaac inside with his present. Stiles was more than a little irritated by the situation but she didn’t let it ruin her night. Isaac appointed himself her bodyguard since he couldn’t get drunk and Stiles got happily buzzed and danced for several hours without any handsy drunks bothering her. Allison and Lydia made out on the dancefloor, to the surprise of quite a few party guests. Erica and Boyd disappeared off somewhere or other towards the beginning of the party. Scott and Kira spent most of the party cozied together in one of the armchairs and were super adorable. Stiles got several super sneaky candids of them being cute. Isaac valiantly kept her from falling over during her super sneaky top secret mission. Jackson and Danny showed up halfway through the party with their shirts miss-buttoned. It was hysterical. 

Cora ended up making out with some blonde no one recognized and Stiles drove Isaac back to the loft. Well, Isaac stole her keys and put her in the passenger seat and drove the Jeep to the loft. He also called Derek on the way there while Stiles was dozing because Derek met them in the parking lot. Derek picked Stiles up out of the car and carried her up to the loft and basically poured water down her throat and then insisted that she eat crackers and poured more water down her throat before he drove her home and put her in bed.

Admittedly, Stiles woke up feeling much less achy and grumpy than she had anticipated, which was a plus. Allison was wearing sunglasses in the parking lot despite the fact it was overcast when they got to school. Lydia had some sort of freaky metabolism and was perfectly alert and peppy. Stiles suspected energy drinks or coffee. Allison posited a deal with the devil. Lydia insisted it was her natural sunny disposition. No one believed her.


	3. Dinner with the Sheriff

The eighth package—the box set of Harry Potter movies, the Amanda Seyfried thriller Gone, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor—caught Stiles’ father’s attention. The clothes were not terribly noticeable and the books and comics and videogames were in Stiles’ room. Movies went on designated shelves in the living room, though. So Stiles was putting the new movies on her shelf and her father paused en route to the kitchen to watch her.

“Did you get a job without my noticing?” he asked, a wrinkle of confusion in his brow.

Stiles felt equally confused as she turned to look at her father. “No. Why?”

“I looked at the pre-order for that box set. I know I haven’t given you that much pocket money.”

“Oh,” Stiles smiled reassuringly at him. “It was a gift, Daddy. I didn’t pay for it.”

“Didn’t realize it was a holiday,” he replied.

“It isn’t,” Stiles agreed.

“So… presents?” He raised his eyebrows at her. Stiles nodded slowly. She was not entirely certain how to answer the question he had not actually asked. “You got a suitor?” Stiles couldn’t hold back her grin and quickly turned to finish rearranging her movies to hide it.

“Well… yes.”

“Oh?” her father sounded amused. “Which one of your little friends is it?” Stiles winced. She stopped fiddling with the movies and slowly turned back around.

“Cora’s brother, Derek Hale.”

Her father sighed heavily. “Derek Hale… The one who’s in his twenties and I arrested as a murder suspect that one time about a year ago? Or could I get lucky and that was Cora’s cousin and she also has a brother named Derek who is only 18 years old and has never been so much as detained for a speeding ticket in his life?”

“He was exonerated,” Stiles replied helplessly. Her father groaned.

“I knew I wasn’t going to get lucky,” he muttered. “You were one of the ones who pointed the finger at the man. What happened to that?”

“Scott lied to me,” Stiles admitted awkwardly. “He… Apparently in the like 30 seconds he’d interacted, we’d both interacted, with Derek, he decided to hate him. How was I supposed to know that Scott hated him after a reasonably polite 30 second exchange? He said that he’d seen evidence that proved Derek was guilty and I believed him and backed him up. I discovered a while later that his so-called evidence had never existed.”

“Oh buddy,” her father groaned. “Right, well, I agree, you couldn’t have known Scott would lie to you to try and get a man accused of first degree. We’ll come back to that line of questioning in a minute. More importantly, has Derek ever put his hands on you?”

Stiles emphatically shook her head. “No. Not in the way you’re talking. We’ve handed one another things and helped one another stand up and things like that… I’ve touched his shoulder. He’s touched my elbow. But he knows the law and he knows I’m Cora’s age. He hasn’t made any such overtures. He just… also hasn’t hidden that he’s interested?”

“He told you he likes you.”

“Yes.”

“He’s buying you gifts.”

“Yes.”

“Have you gone out together for a date?”

“Nope. We’ve been out in public in the same group because he usually stays when Cora and Isaac come out with the rest of us, but it’s group activities and we aren’t even the only two not coupled off.”

“Okay. You been over at wherever he lives for anything resembling a date?”

“Never.” Stiles grinned at her father. “He’s not dumb. And Cora and Peter especially are good at making sure we don’t get left alone in the same room if there’s not a crowd when I’m over at the loft. No one is trying to put either of us in a position to make a stupid decision.”

“I’m glad Cora’s got sense in her head. You like him back?”

“Yeah,” Stiles nodded. “I like him a lot.”

“Alright,” he nodded. “I’m going to be very generous and change out of my uniform and put my service gun away. You call Cora or Derek and have them come for dinner tonight. I wanna talk to this man. Speaking of, how old is he, again?”

“He turned 23 two weeks before I turned 17.”

“Oh Jesus,” he grumbled, wandering off up the stairs. “I need a stiff drink!” he called back down. Stiles ignored him in favor of pulling out her phone. She called Derek.

“Dad wants you to come over for dinner.”

“Huh?” Derek asked eloquently.

“Apparently he was planning on getting me the Harry Potter box set for my birthday. He wanted to know where I got the money to buy it myself.”

“And then you explained it was a gift and had to tell him who it was from,” Derek filled in the rest himself. “Alright, just me for dinner?”

“Dad said them and told me to call you or Cora. So I guess you and Cora and Isaac come for dinner.”

“What about me?” Peter called out piteously.

“Sure, Peter, you can come too,” Stiles decided. Her father had no traumatic memories of Peter when he was a feral, packless alpha, after all.

“Perhaps more importantly, is your father planning to shoot me?”

“He said he was putting his gun away. So I doubt it.”

“That’s a good start,” Derek agreed.

“Pizza?” Cora called out from somewhere in the background. There was a quick round of greetings on the other end of the phone before Derek explained that they were eating with Stiles and her father.

“Pack dinner?” Isaac asked.

“No, just us,” Derek corrected. “The Sheriff wants to talk to me.”

“Stiles!” Cora exclaimed, probably taking Derek’s phone. “Stiles! You made sure you told him that Derek hasn’t touched you? Derek isn’t getting arrested is he? He better not be getting arrested!”

“No, Cora, Derek isn’t getting arrested. Dad asked outright and I clearly shook my head and said no. There was no margin for error. Take a deep breath. Dad just wants to talk to him.”

“Here, let me.” Stiles turned to find her father holding his hand out for the phone. She handed it over. “I’m not arresting your brother. I just want to talk to him… No, I’m not going to shoot him either… Yes, Stiles made it clear that there’s nothing inappropriate going on…” There was a very long pause. “I just want to speak to you about your intentions towards my daughter, son. Figured your sister might as well come along so you don’t have to worry about feeding her… Of course, Isaac and Peter are welcome too. We’ll see you in about an hour? …Good. See you then. Goodbye.”

“Cora was a bit concerned.”

Her father nodded. “I noticed. What are we doing for dinner? Something easy, please.”

“Cora wanted pizza and it should arrive in about an hour.”

“Sounds good to me,” he agreed.

Stiles called and put in the pizza order, calmly explaining to Greenberg that she only wanted 3 pizzas, 2 large meat lovers and 1 medium Supreme, and no, the usual order was not going to the loft today. The three pizzas she had specified were to go to the Sheriff’s house on Oak Lane. By the time she had gotten off the phone, she had explained it three times and was reasonably certain that Greenberg would at least direct the pizza to the right address. And really, pizza was pizza. They would eat whatever came. If the wings and breadsticks that the pack usually ordered showed up at the door too, well, the werewolves would eat them. They all had big appetites.

Stiles and her father spent a little while talking about how Derek had gone from Scott’s persona non grata and Stiles’ murder suspect to someone they spent enough time with to warrant $100 gifts. Stiles pointedly did not bring up the comic books. She never ever in her life wanted to think how much money Derek had spent on them. Stiles ended up having to awkwardly explain Derek taking Isaac in and Cora’s sudden arrival without werewolves, which was a feat, and by the time she had come to anything resembling the present and Derek having expressed his interest, Derek, Peter, Cora, and Isaac were on the doorstep.

“What’s for dinner?” Cora asked the moment Stiles opened the door.

“Pizza’s on the way. Greenberg was on the phone line though, so all I know is that pizza should be arriving at this address.”

“Should we send someone to intercept the pizza at the loft?” Isaac teased. “Are we sure that Greenberg didn’t screw it up?”

“Give him another fifteen minutes before we panic,” Stiles decided.

“Stiles?” her father prompted.

“Come in,” Stiles herded them all inside and shut the door. “Daddy, this is Peter, Derek, Isaac, and Cora. Everyone, you recognize my dad, right? He answers to Sheriff, Stilinski, sir or a combination thereof.”

“Nice to meet you, Sheriff,” Peter said smoothly. “I don’t think we were ever properly introduced over the years.”

“I don’t believe so,” he agreed. They shook hands. “Won’t everyone come into the living room?” Derek and her father shook hands as well and then Derek prompted Isaac to do the same thing.

“Nope, I’m not courting her. I’m not shaking his hand,” Cora said as Derek turned to her.

“Cora, be polite. What would Talia say?” Peter snapped.

“She would say dear God, Derek, have you lost your mind?” Stiles replied drily. Peter snorted. Cora giggled. Derek frowned at her and shook his head.

“Cora, just say hello. You’re like a toddler.”

“Cora doesn’t follow people to the bathroom,” Isaac piped up. “I’m quite certain toddlers do that.” Stiles’ father laughed. The doorbell rang. Greenberg had directed pizza to the correct abode. Stiles was very proud of him and told him so. Isaac told her not to be rude.

“Why are there five pizzas and breadsticks and two boxes of wings?” Peter asked.

“He got the pizza to the right place,” Stiles reminded him. “That’s all that matters. Derek, come pay the poor kid before Peter or Cora gives him an aneurysm.”

Derek pulled his wallet out and paid for the food and tipped Greenberg for getting the food to the correct destination and sent him on his way before anyone noticed anything odd about the exchange. Derek did always pay for food for the pack, after all. Stiles’ father thought it a bit unusual that Derek was paying for the food at his house though.

“I thought this was my house.”

“Yes…” Stiles was a bit slow on the uptake. “Oh, um, sorry? Derek always pays for food at the loft and Greenberg’s a little petrified of Cora.”

“Well, at least that answers my question about where he got the money to buy that box set from,” her father muttered.

“Right,” Stiles said brightly, “Let’s all go eat!”

“Preferably before your father ends up with an aneurysm,” Peter agreed dryly. Derek cuffed him upside the head. Stiles bit her lips closed to stifle her giggles.

They all settled at the table, Stiles at one end and her father at the other. Peter was between Derek and the Sheriff and Isaac and Cora were across from them. They passed the boxes around until everyone had filled their plate and Stiles was satisfied that her father had the healthiest options on the table. After a moment of quiet chewing, her father broke the silence.

“So, Derek, what do you do for a living?”

“Well, sir, I’ve been living off the insurance money for the past year. I was two classes away from a Bachelor’s in Investment Economics with a job lined up at Morgan-Chase before Laura died. But my life went a little off the rails and I came after her only to find her dead and ended up not being able to leave town until halfway through the semester and by that point I had taken Isaac in and a few months later Cora showed up on my doorstep. I’ve prioritized staying put for them, and getting some therapy for myself, over getting back to my degree and finding a job just yet.”

“Completely understandable, son. Sounds like you chose a lucrative field, when you get back to finish your last few credits. You should have your pick of places to make a life.”

“I’m sure I could if I wanted to move,” Derek agreed mildly.

“We’ve been getting the old house rebuilt,” Peter interjected. “I don’t know if Stiles mentioned. But I’m not planning on going anywhere anytime soon and I doubt my nephew would be sinking quite so much money into a large house for just little old me.”

“Lord no, your house wasn’t burned to the ground. I could pay a few grand for minor repairs and be done with it if I wanted to go back to New York,” Derek agreed. “Wouldn’t have to have arguments about exactly how tall the ceiling should be in this room versus that room and what color to paint the walls in the kitchen.”

“Yellow,” Stiles, Isaac, and Cora all chorused. Derek sighed heavily.

“I realize that a decision was made. I still say that was a ridiculous situation and everyone was entirely too worked up about paint colors.”

“I will second that,” Peter agreed.

“I can agree that there was entirely too much concern about paint colors and not enough concern about there being a functional kitchen,” Stiles added. Cora and Isaac nodded.

“So you’ll both be living in the same house, then?” her father asked. Peter and Derek nodded.

“And Cora and Isaac have rooms that they’ll have use of for as long as they want them.” No one had yet told Stiles’ father about werewolves, so explaining that there were enough bedrooms for the entire pack was out of the question.

“Of course, of course…” her father nodded.

He continued his interrogation throughout the rest of dinner.

When would Derek be getting back to his degree? Probably when Cora and Isaac (and the rest of the pack) went off to college.

What were his life goals and long term plans? Derek talked about settling back down in town and eventually making a family of his own. Cora snorted at him.

The questioning turned from Derek’s life to his relationship with Stiles.

How old was he, exactly? 23.

Did he realize Stiles was only 17? Yes.

That she wouldn’t be 18 until November and it was only April? Yes.

“What exactly are your intentions regarding my daughter?” he demanded. Isaac and Stiles both broke out in helpless giggles and Derek glared at them.

“They’re laughing because he’s courting her,” Cora explained. “But really, there’s nothing to worry about Stiles’ honor or anything for. They’re both careful and we’re careful for them too.”

“I understand that the 6 year age gap looks a little incriminating,” Derek said, waving Cora to silence. “I understand that your first instinct is to assume I’m a threat to your daughter. That’s honestly exactly the situation I want to avoid.”

“Just because you say you want to avoid it…” he shook his head. “She’s still a kid. You’ve been through most of college and you have an apartment and are responsible for two teenagers yourself…”

Derek nodded slowly. “When I was in high school, about the same age that Stiles was when I first met her, actually, I got into a… I’ll call it a relationship, with an older woman. To this day, I’m not entirely certain how old she was, but my best guess is about ten years older than I was. I was barely sixteen. We met innocuously enough: she was the class substitute for a couple weeks. The teacher was out for some illness or other. By the time the teacher had returned to school, I was sleeping with the woman. Our relationship was based almost entirely on sex, all of which she initiated and controlled. I remember almost nothing about her except her name. It screwed with my head for a good few years, especially with the fire happening so close afterwards. I thought it was my punishment for a little too long. Please believe me when I say that I would rather do horrible things to myself than put Stiles in a position where she feels like I did after that relationship. I’m doing my best to respect you, her, her age, her mental health, and the fact that the gap in our ages causes a natural power imbalance in any relationship between us, no matter how innocent or platonic.”

“Oddly, that does make me feel a little better about the situation.”

“I don’t remember that,” Cora murmured softly.

“Well, you were 10. I wasn’t exactly telling you those stories.”

“I remember that woman. I don’t think your mother ever noticed, though.” Peter looked more than a little angry. He certainly knew exactly who Derek meant. Stiles did too. Isaac and Cora were clueless. “I know I never said anything to you about it, but I thought, given your age, you might just become more attached to her simply because I’d told you she was bad news.”

“It’s in the past now,” Derek said firmly. “I only brought it up to point out that I know first-hand how damaging it can be for an adult to start a relationship with a teenager. Just because I’m now the older one doesn’t mean that I’m going to disregard that knowledge.”

“You will keep your hands and all other body parts to yourself until Stiles is over 18 and has expressed her informed, enthusiastic consent for anything of that nature and I will never have to hear about it.”

“Of course,” Derek agreed. “That was already the plan: everything on Stiles’ terms once she’s of age and in a way that you never need to have any knowledge of anything.”

“I’m glad we understand each other. You keep giving her presents and doing whatever it is you’ve been doing to court her but no dating until she’s of-age. You will not pressure her decisions about college in any way. You don’t get brought into my office for any reason.”

“What if he’s just a witness?” Cora asked.

“Or he rescued a kitten from a tree?” Stiles suggested.

“Any reason,” he said firmly, pointing at Derek. “I don’t want to see you in my office.”

“Understood.”

“And if you hurt her, just remember that I was a sniper in the army before I became a Sheriff. I can shoot you and never have the investigation opened. Are we clear, son?”

“Crystal clear,” Derek agreed stiffly.

“Alright. I feel better about the situation. You kids go do whatever you normally do on school nights. Peter, it was nice meeting you. Stiles, if you’re leaving the house then be home by 10:30. I’ll get some chores done.”

Stiles kissed her dad on the cheek before following the quickly fleeing werewolves out the door. “Thanks, Daddy, for not immediately assuming he was the bad guy.”

“Yeah, yeah, go before I change my mind, kiddo.”


End file.
